Goren bridge
Hundreds and hundreds - and hundreds - of you called or wrote to me, Features Editor Debbie Van Tassel, Editor Susan Goldberg and anyone else you could find, to say that the newspaper had made a huge mistake. (dropping the Goren bridge column)
It's hard to get a grip on how many, because they came in so many forms to so many of us. A conservative guess is 700 and climbing. I'd tell you that I didn't realize we had so many bridge players, but several people who called said that they don't even play bridge - they just like to read the column.
In honor of your decorum (and your numbers), it is my privilege to inform you that the bridge column will be returning to your daily newspaper. It will appear in each day's Classified Advertising section.
The "S-word"
Last Saturday was a signature moment in Plain Dealer history. In a Page One story about short-tempered firefighter Terrance Hough Jr.'s lethal attack on his neighbors, we told readers that before he shot three people to death, he said, according to witnesses, "I'll bet you guys won't be doing this s- - - again."
But the story didn't put it like that. It used the full word, without softening it with hyphens.
Many readers were shocked.
"I was just appalled to see it that way," said one. "Does that mean all bars are now going to be down at The PD and we can expect to see other obscenities and vulgarities in the paper now?"
Absolutely not.
Most readers consider us a family newspaper, and that's what we try to be. You won't see casual profanity in these pages, and editors try to balance assaults on your sensibilities with the need to avoid spoon-feeding you the news.
The Plain Dealer has a stylebook that establishes guidelines in many areas, including taste. Here's a part of what it says about this issue: "Gratuitous use of vulgarities and profanities must be avoided. . . . Tragedies evoke powerful emotions that may trigger vulgar language. . . . When the use of the profanity is necessary to convey the essence of a quotation, its use may be justified but must be approved by the editor or managing editor."
Editor Goldberg, who made the decision to run the unfettered quote, said that there are times when the need to convey the intensity of a situation compels editors to re-examine the standard rules.
"I personally am extremely conservative in these matters," she said. "But this shocking act - the cold-blooded murder of three people - was one of those times. The quote, in its fullness, told you an enormous amount about the suspect's state of mind. We thought, first, that readers should see it and, second, that they could handle it. I am sorry if people were offended."
Saturday was the first time the "S" word has appeared on this newspaper's Page One, but you might be surprised to learn that it was not the first time it has seen print in these pages. Going back to 1991, which was the year we began archiving stories electronically, the word has been used in all its four-letter splendor 16 times.
As the stylebook says, profanity should be used sparingly and only for a defensible reason. Looking back at the two dozen-plus intentional uses, I could quibble with a few of those decisions.
But not last Saturday. The full, direct quote put readers at the scene in a way that using the letter "s" and a bunch of hyphens could not.
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